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www.independentweekly.com.au
11
The Independent Weekly
July 30 - August 5, 2010
international
Including The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Independent and AAP
LONDON: WikiLeaks
editor-in-chief claims his
organisation doesn t know
who sent it some 91,000 secret
US military documents,
telling journalists the
website was set up to hide the
source of its data from those
who receive it.
Julian Assange didn t
say whether he meant he
had no idea who leaked the
documents or whether his
organisation simply could
not be sure.
But he said the added layer
of secrecy helped protect the
site s sources from spy agen-
cies and hostile corporations.
"We never know the source
of the leak," he told journal-
ists gathered at London s
Frontline Club. "Our whole
system is designed such that
we don t have to keep that
secret."
While the 39-year-old
Australian acknowledged
that the site s anonymous
submissions raised concerns
about the authenticity of its
material, he said WikiLeaks
had yet to be fooled by a
bogus document.
US officials say the site s
massive online disclosure
of classified information
may have put soldiers and
operatives in danger, and
the Pentagon, the Justice
Department and the FBI
have all stepped in to
investigate.
US President Barack
Obama said the leak of clas-
sified information from the
battlefield "could potentially
jeopardise individuals or
operations", while Admiral
Mike Mullen, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told
reporters in Baghdad that
there was "a real potential
threat there to put American
lives at risk".
US officials are worried
that the raw data may
prove useful not only to the
Taliban, but also to hostile
intelligence services in
countries such as China
and Russia who have the
resources to make sense of
such vast vaults of data,
said Ellen McCarthy, former
US intelligence officer and
president of the Intelligence
and National Security
Alliance.
Former CIA director
Michael Hayden described
the mass release as a big gift
to America s enemies.
"If I had gotten this trove
on the Taliban or al-Qaeda, I
would have called it price-
less," he said.
Mr Assange agreed that
the files offered insight into
US tactics. But he said that
was none of his concern,
and he noted that his website
already carried a copy of
the US Special Forces 2006
Southern Afghanistan
Counterinsurgency Manual,
among other sensitive US
military documents.
"It is not our role to play
sides for states. States have
national security concerns,
we do not have national
security concerns."
He said he wasn t
interested in the safety
of states, only the safety
of individuals. "If we are
talking a threat to individual
soldiers ... or citizens of the
US, then that is potentially a
genuine concern."
Mr Assange also offered
insight into his own
motivation, referring to a
statement he gave to German
newspaper Der Spiegel in
which he said he "loved
crushing bastards". He said
the comment wasn t meant
in jest, describing himself
as a combative person who
likes "stopping people who
have created victims from
creating any more".
Concern is growing inside
the White House that the
release of the documents
painting a disturbing
picture of the conflict in
Afghanistan risks further
undermining support for
Mr Obama s war strategy
on Capitol Hill, across the
country and even among
America s Nato allies.
The revelations did not
impede the passage of a new
$60 billion war funding bill
in Congress, but in a sign of
worsening divisions among
Democrats, the Wisconsin
member who introduced the
bill to the floor revealed his
intention to vote against it.
With public support
for the war fragile at best,
some of what is exposed in
the papers -- ranging from
previously unacknowledged
killings of civilians to
apparent evidence of collu-
sion between the Pakistani
intelligence service, the ISI,
and Taliban fighters -- seems
certain to put pressure on
Mr Obama to articulate his
strategy more clearly.
DELHI: India welcomed the
head of Burma s isolated
military government this
week and extended aid to
the regime for railroad and
agriculture projects, despite
international criticism.
India s relationship with
Burma, considered a pariah
by some for its suppression of
democracy and human rights,
has taken on new importance
because of concerns over
insurgencies and drug
trafficking along their shared
border.
India has also grown
wary of China s influence in
Burma and is competing with
its regional rival for access
to the country s large natural
gas resources.
Burma junta chief Than
Shwe held talks with Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, with officials of the
two countries later signing
agreements to combat the
smuggling of arms, drugs
and ammunition across
their 1650km frontier, and
to co-operate in the fields of
information, science and
technology.
"There are insurgencies
on both sides [of the border]
and both countries need each
other," said G. Parthasarathy,
a former Indian ambassador
to Myanmar.
India agreed to consider
Burma s request for
assistance in three areas
-- information technology,
industrial and infrastruc-
ture development. It also
agreed to help restore the
renowned Ananda Temple,
a noted Buddhist shrine
and major tourist attraction
in Burma s central Bagan
district.
After many years of
supporting the democratic
movement in Burma led by
Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi, India has
switched tracks and reached
out to the military regime.
It has established deep
economic and military ties
with Burma s generals over
the past decade, overlooking
the reclusive junta s poor
record on political and
human rights.
Meanwhile, British Prime
Minister David Cameron
mounted a charm offensive
on India this week, allowing
it access to British nuclear
expertise for the first time
and sharply criticising
Pakistan s record on
terrorism.
He called for a new era of
co-operation between the UK
and India as he led a delega-
tion of British ministers
and business executives to
Bangalore and, later, New
Delhi. His visit coincided
with the announcement that,
in future, export licences for
civil nuclear expertise and
technology to India would be
approved.
Mr Cameron also sought
to address Indian concerns
about terrorism, particularly
from its neighbour Pakistan.
PARIS: France has vowed
to tear down illegal gypsy
camps and expel gypsies
from other EU states who
break the law, after President
Nicolas Sarkozy said the
minority posed security
"problems".
The announcement
followed crisis talks called
by Sarkozy as part of his
declared "war on crime".
Rights groups have accused
him of stigmatising the
Roma, gypsy and traveller
minorities.
Interior Minister Brice
Hortefeux said 300 illegal
"camps or squats" housing
gypsies and travellers would
be shut down and foreign
gypsies breaking the law
would be deported to their
countries of origin.
Mr Sarkozy warned
ahead of the meeting
that some members of
the itinerant minorities
posed security problems,
in response to an attack on
a police station in Saint-
Aignan, central France last
week.
Gypsy groups and political
opponents complained Mr
Sarkozy s approach stigma-
tised minority communities
and did not distinguish
between ethnic Roma and
gypsies, and the separate
community of French
"travellers."
"As happens too often in
history, gypsies are once
more being made scapegoats
by a ruling class tangled up
in political and financial
scandals," the gypsy rights
association UFAT said in a
statement.
"If Nicolas Sarkozy must
repeat his declaration of
war, the Collective of gypsy
Associations will be prompted
to take legal action for incite-
ment to racial hatred."
The group said it
wanted Sarkozy to meet its
representatives to try to find
a solution for the 400,000
gypsies and travelling people
in France.
Authorities estimate that
in France there are about
15,000 Roma, an ethnic
group widespread in eastern
Europe. Most in France are
thought to be from Romania
and Bulgaria, which joined
the EU in 2007. Many live in
slums in suburbs.
DILI: Archaeological research
in East Timor has unearthed
the bones of the biggest rat
that ever lived, with a body
weight of about 6kg.
The cave excavations also
yielded a total of 13 species
of rodents, 11 of which are
new to science. Eight of the
rats weighed at least 1kg.
"East Indonesia is a hot
spot for rodent evolution. We
want international attention
on conservation in the area,"
said Dr Ken Aplin of the
Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research
Organisation.
He said rodents were a
key element of ecosystems,
important for processes such
as soil maintenance and
seed dispersal. Maintaining
their biodiversity was just
as important as protecting
whales or birds.
Carbon dating shows the
giant rat survived until about
1000 to 2000 years ago.
"People have lived on the
island of Timor for more
than 40,000 years and hunted
and ate rats throughout
this period, yet extinctions
did not occur until quite
recently," Dr Aplin said.
Until Dr Aplin finds a larger
one, today s biggest rats
weigh about 2kg and live in
Philippines and New Guinea.
Wikileaks' source
remains a secret
France is set to shut down gypsy camps and deport foreign gypsies.
France wants gypsies to hit the road
New Guinea's giant rats are a
mere 2kg.
When rats the size of cats roamed the earth
India lends
a hand to
troubled
regime
We never
know
the source of
the leak. Our
whole system is
designed such
that we don t have
to keep that secret
Defiant: WikiLeaks' Julian
Assange.